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<title>Flowers grow on my arm (But the thorns prick my heart) by BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22748791">Flowers grow on my arm (But the thorns prick my heart)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls/pseuds/BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls'>BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, oikage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:01:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22748791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls/pseuds/BoysAndBoysAndGirlsAndGirls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa rejected his soulmate too long ago. But, seeing Kageyama with someone else makes him realize, their soul bond was never truly rejected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>243</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flowers grow on my arm (But the thorns prick my heart)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is like the longest thing I've written. and i didn't proof read it, so please tell me if there's a mistake</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kageyama hated his soul mark. He hated that it was too big to cover. He hated that it went all the way up his arm. He hated that it was rejected yet it refused to fade away.</p><p>It had been years since it was rejected, yet it wasn’t gone. It stayed, persistent, as a reminder that he would never be loved. </p><p>So, he found someone else. Someone else whose soul mark had been rejected, but unlike Kageyama’s, his had faded. His was small enough to hide. He was luckier, but he wasn’t the one Kageyama loved.</p><p>Though he hated his mark, Kageyama couldn’t hep but admit it was beautiful. Carnations of different colours creeped up his arm. His red, yellow, white and striped flowers often stopped people in their tracks. But that wouldn’t stop Kageyama from hating it with all his being.</p><p>They were in a relationship, but it wasn’t love. Both of them knew it. Unloved, this was just a way to make sure they don’t die alone. At least not physically alone.</p><p> </p><p>Oikawa didn’t understand why the universe had bonded him with someone like him. We were too different, was his excuse when people asked him why he’d rejected him. But he knew that wouldn’t suffice. Because them being different wouldn’t have mattered if he hadn’t been so deeply envious of his soulmate’s talent. Oikawa was going to be alone for the rest of his life, and so was he, at least that’s what he thought.</p><p>He stood speechless as he saw his soulmate with someone else, the same carnations on Oikawa’s own arm on his. They hadn’t faded for either, that gave Oikawa a little bit of relief, but nothing could take him away from the fact that Tobio was with another man, their hands interlocked on the table as Tobio smiled. He was smiling, with someone else. Not him. Someone else.</p><p>He finally turned; their eyes met. Tobio’s deep blue eyes with Oikawa’s teary hazel ones. The other man tugged at Tobio, as if to ask who this was, but when he didn’t respond, his eyes wandered to Oikawa’s hand looking for the same carnations, which he did find. The man whispered something to Kageyama which he nodded to, before slowly making his way to Oikawa. </p><p>“Yours hasn’t faded either.”, Kageyama said to him, after five years of not talking to each other.</p><p>“No, it hasn’t.”, that was all Oikawa managed to say under the scrutiny of his soulmate.</p><p>“Hmm. Well, I’ll go now.”, Tobio said after a few beats of silence.</p><p>“Is- is he your boyfriend?”, Oikawa manage to say as he turns his back.</p><p>“Yeah. But why would you care?”, he barked out.</p><p>“I’m your soulmate, you know.”, he replies. All of the patrons of the café’s eyes were on them.</p><p>“You mean were, you were my soulmate, until you rejected me.”, Kageyama shouts, with fury evident in his eyes.<br/>
“The mark says otherwise, it’s still there.”, Oikawa says, with tears dripping down his cheeks, though he was never someone to cry so easily.</p><p>Kageyama’s boyfriend steps in between them, “Can we take this somewhere more private?”. Oikawa turns to look at him, glaring. “I don’t think we need to.”, Kageyama says, “We’re done.”.</p><p>He walks out of there with the other man on his heels.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Oikawa scrolled through his phone, checking if he still had his number, though there was no reason to check, his finger hovered over his contact every day.</p><p>He was back in his room, staring at the ceiling, replaying the scene in his head, wondering what came over him. But, Kageyama was right, he had rejected him, he had no right to speak now that he had someone else. He was no one to him. But the mark didn’t seem to agree as it throbbed, sending pain waves through his whole body and he groaned. Looking down at the flowers that adorned him, he wondered what they meant. All soul marks were symbolic and weren’t flowers symbolic too? </p><p>Picking his phone up, he goes to everyone’s last and first resort, google. </p><p>Meaning of carnations</p><p>The definitions of the flower showed up first, he scrolled past that, it wasn’t what he needed to know.<br/>
Answers showed up in the form of a website which he immediately clicked on.<br/>
Carnation, he searched.</p><p>Carnation symbolizes pride and beauty. A red carnation symbolizes love, pride and admiration; a pink carnation symbolizes the love of a woman or a mother; a purple carnation symbolizes capriciousness; a yellow carnation symbolizes disdain, rejection or disappointment, while a white carnation symbolizes innocence and pure love. A striped carnation conveys refusal.</p><p>On his arm, there were red, yellow, white and striped. </p><p>His eyes widened in realization, as he fumbled with his phone and clicked on the ‘Call’ option next to his name.</p><p>“I don’t want to talk.”, Kageyama began.</p><p>“No listen, Tobio-Chan, I- .”</p><p>“Don’t call me that.”, he spat out.</p><p>“Just listen.”, Oikawa says, exasperated. “I know what our soul mark means.”</p><p> </p><p>This shuts Kageyama up. </p><p>“Red carnations- love, pride, admiration. You used to admire me, always asking me to teach you to serve.”</p><p>“I didn’t admire you, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration.”, Kageyama says.</p><p>Oikawa chuckles, “Sure. Anyway, striped carnations- refusal. I refused to accept you and my love for you.”</p><p>Kageyama hums, telling him to go on.</p><p>“Yellow carnations- rejection, I don’t need to explain that, I guess.”</p><p>“No, you don’t.”, he responds with his voice slightly lower.</p><p>“And then white carnations- pure love, that’s what we have. These flowers, they’re us.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A long pause followed.</p><p>“It’s our story.”, Kageyama spoke up, his voice with a slight quiver.</p><p>“Yeah. So, what do you say? Do you want to give this, give us a try?”, Oikawa says, nervously, “But, you have a boyfriend, right?”</p><p>“We broke up. He said that he didn’t want to take me away from my soulmate, not when we’re still bonded.”</p><p>“This is the first time I don’t feel like sticking my tongue out at him. So, will you?”</p><p>Kageyama sighs, “ One date. One.”</p><p>Oikawa lets out a victory squeal, “It’ll start with one date.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, sure. Just. Pick me up at 7 on Friday, I assume you still know where I live.”, the sureness in his voice making Oikawa grin even wider.</p><p>“Bye Tobio-Chan.”</p><p>“Bye. Tooru.”</p><p>Kageyama / Oikawa<br/>
Looks down at his arm.<br/>
The flowers didn’t hurt so much now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading this! it means a lot</p><p>as always, comments are appreciated</p></blockquote></div></div>
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